Monday, May 8, 2017

Seeking that deeper concept

I think Close is on the right track with his final argument where he concludes “My conjecture is that in some future theory of everything, space and time will turn out not to be fundamental and will emerge from some deeper concept. Whoever first establishes what this is will enter the pantheon of science, along with Newton, Maxwell and Einstein.”

Yes, this is the belief that underlies most research in quantum gravity, string theory, and other branches of theoretical physics.

This belief is foolish.

A lot of really smart ppl have been pursuing it for decades. They have essentially nothing to show for it. They are like the alchemists looking to turn lead into gold, or others seeking the Holy Grail. It is a pipe dream.

Science is about experimenting and explaining what we can observe, not constructing some abstract models about what we can never see anyway. Physics has lost its way when everything thinks that some magic deeper concept is going to explain everything.

1 comment:

Roger,Quantum mechanics is nothing but statistical outcomes conflated as mechanical processes staged as science, there is no actual mechanics or process. I'm not looking for a 'magical' explanation of anything, just an explanation that actually takes physical causality (not inexplicable and mystical platonistic math dimensions)into account.. Absurdity makes for poor foundation on which to construct anything but a Monty Python skit.